Discover the most incredible creatures that ever walked the earth...From small beginnings, around 230 million years ago, dinosaurs evolved into ferocious killers with jaws large enough to swallow a human being in one go, mammoth plant-eaters that shook the ground as they walked, and strange streamlined creatures capable of sprinting at sustained speeds. From the colossal Argentinosaurus, as heavy as 20 elephants, to the tiny meat-eating Microraptor that was smaller than a chicken, here are the dinosaur record-breakers. Read all about dagger-like fangs, switchblade claws, gigantic skulls and flesh-ripping horns. Discover how the best-armed dinosaurs deterred their enemies with fearsome suits of armour and how the tallest of the tall stood as high as a five-storey building. Prepare to be awed by the extreme world of dinosaurs!

Reviews

Extreme Dinosaurs by Robert Mash, illus. by Stuart Martin, employs tabs, flaps, posters, booklets to introduce several types of dinos, which are lumped into categories such as "tough guys" for those with armor, "micro-monsters" and others. Clawmarks, sometimes gruesome illustrations and a booklet that predicts the outcomes of dino vs. dino battles should appeal to diehard enthusiasts. (S&S/Atheneum, $21.99 32p ages 6-12 ISBN 9781-4169-3952-8; Oct.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Gr 4-6-From the golden reptilian eye sunk into the cover through pull-tabs and flaps and foldouts and pop-ups to the tiny booklet entitled "Extreme Sports for Dinosaurs" attached to the back cover, this volume is an attention grabber. Arranged in a tabloid fashion on the super-thick pages are mini-headlines, information boxes, track facts, colorful illustrations, photographs, and paragraphs of text. Included are such goodies as a dino-test (with answers in a tiny booklet concealed in a glued-on envelope), a dino family tree, a Mesozoic time line, a glossary, and an "Extreme Hall of Fame." A nifty poster is tucked into the front cover. Surprisingly, all this razzle-dazzle does include some interesting information (not in-depth, but with all the interactive hoopla, who would mind?) and the whole package is a hands-down winner for eye-appeal and audience participation. Of course, the binding will disintegrate, the poster will disappear, the little booklets will vanish, and the flaps/tabs/foldouts/pop-ups will tear or be squashed, but a good time will be had by all until the Great Dissolution.-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.